The Wine
The 2016 growing season was a good one and our vineyards really spoke to us.The opening aromatics of butterscotch, citrus, and warm baking spices reflect the cool climate nature of the region. The journey continues with a wet stone character along with crisp acidity. Delightful toasty notes from French oak aging come through along with a soft earthiness. A quintessential offering. Kyndall’s Reserve Chardonnay is part of our Sisters Collection and is a family designation wine, named for Joe and Tracy Dutton’s eldest
daughter whose vibrant and down-to-earth personality reflect this approachable Chardonnay.

The Winemaking
After night harvesting, the grapes are immediately brought to the winery and are whole cluster pressed. The juice is settled for 24 hours and then racked into oak barrels. We also fermented 40% of the blend in concrete eggs to maintain a freshness that we find appealing. Each individual vineyard lot is separated and fermented until blending in early summer. During the fermentation processes, the wine is aged on its lees and stirred twice a month giving a full-balance mid-palate and a bright, lively finish.
We used French oak barrels with varying toast levels and age so that the fruit shines. The wine was cold-stabilized and filtered prior to bottling.

The Vineyards
To create our Russian River Valley Chardonnay, we pulled from three different vineyards with well-established pedigrees and excellent sustainable farming practices from the more than 80 that Dutton Ranch farms. Planted in 1980 to the Robert Young clone, the Sebastopol Vineyard surrounds our winery. Planted in 1991 with the Wente clone, the Dutton Palms Vineyard is east facing and lies within the coolest part of the Green Valley. The Mill Station Vineyard, in the heart of Green Valley, has forty-year old vines planted to the Heritage clone that are dry-farmed and late to harvest allowing the fruit to retain a natural high acidity and distinct citrus flavor. Each of these are certified Sonoma County Sustainably-Farmed and Fish-Friendly vineyards.